59th Eurovision Song Contest | Golden Skate

59th Eurovision Song Contest

GF2445

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 7, 2012
The Eurovision Song Contest is the World's largest Annual Song Competition, which attracts the largest TV audience around the world for a non-sporting event. Every year, up to of 600 million people world wide tune into the song contest, with many people hosting Eurovision Parties all over the world as the event broadcasts.

Following Denmark's victory in Malmo, Sweden last year, this year, the contest will be held in Copenhagen, Denmark at the B&W Hallerne on the 6th, 8th and 10th of May.
In this years contest, 37 nations across Europe will be competing to win the contest and the rights for their nation to host the next contest.

For those who don't know how the contest works, it basically works like this. Every competing nation has one entry into the contrst. The competition is made up of two stages. Firstly, there are two Semi-finals and then a Finals round.
The winner is determined through....guess what... A points system!!
Be warned, explaining the scoring system here is like explaining IJS so hold onto your hats!

Semi Finals
In the Semi-Finals, all nations except the host nation and "The Big Five" nations compete in this round (The Big Five are the Five Largest Financial Contributors to the main organizers of the competition- the Eurovision Broadcasting Union). So this year, 31 nations will compete to qualify for the Finals Round. Those 31 nations are then randomly placed in one of two Semi-finals. This year there will be 16 artists competing in the 1st Semi-Final and 15 in the 2nd Semi-Final.

In each semi final, each competing artist will get to perform their song live in front of a live audience (there will be an audience of 10,000 in the arena), as well as all those watching the broadcast on TV. After all the performances, the audiences of the countries participating in that semi-final have 10 minutes to vote for their favourite act (EXCEPT THEIR OWN OF COURSE).

Each country contributes to the vote individually.
Each country determines their top 10 result by combining the Televoting Results (50%) with the 'National Jury' (a panel of musicians and celebrities from their country who rank the entries) results. The combination of both results determine their nation's top 10.
The top 10 then receive points from that country
10th- 1 point, 9th= 2 points, 8th= 3 points, 7th= 4 points, 6th= 5 points, 5th= 6 points, 4th= 7 points
3rd= 8 points, 2nd= 10 points and 1st= 12 points ('Douze Points').
Countries outside the top 10 get 0 points ('Nul Points').

This repeats for every country participating in the semifinal. Also, 3 of the 6 automatically qualified nations (The host nation and the 'Big Five') are allocated to vote in each semifinal. After the voting, the points are added together and the top ten highest scoring nations in that semifinal qualify for the final. Unlike the final, the semi-final results are announced by the hosts in no particular order and without the final points being revealed (The points and the breakdowns of each results for the semifinal are usually released the next day).

This process happens in both semifinal 1 and semifinal 2.

If you want to see what a Semi-finals result announcement looks like click the links below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AnkooJ1TZo0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tih2GWQN35c

Finals
In the Finals, the top 10 from each Semi-Final (20 in total), the Host Nationm(Denmark) and the 'Big Five' compete (That is 26 finalists in total).
The 'big five' nations are United Kingdom, France, Germany, Spain and Italy.
Like the semis the voting process is exactly the same but in the final, the results are are shown differently to the semis. In the finals, each nations top 10 results are revealed. If you want to see what the final voting looks like, click on the link below
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4COrb8pmnQ

The contest in not happening to May but nearly all the entries and their songs have been revealed over the course of this month.
If you are a fan of this contest, please use this wall!
 
Joined
Aug 16, 2009
This is the event that ABBA won that put them on the map, isn't it? It sounds like such fun. One of my favorite singers, Tommy Korberg of Sweden, entered several times.
 

GF2445

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 7, 2012
This is the event that ABBA won that put them on the map, isn't it? It sounds like such fun. One of my favorite singers, Tommy Korberg of Sweden, entered several times.

Thats right! Abba did win Eurovision back in '74 (which would be around 20 years before i was born!)
I know Eurovision not as well known in the US or Canada but for some reason Australians love it and they broadcast it every year.
 
Joined
Aug 16, 2009
Yeah, we don't pay any attention to it here. But I'm lucky to have a Swedish friend who introduced me to the music of Tommy Korberg, and so I know about an iota more about Eurovision than most other Americans. Really, just a sliver, a tiny amount, and most of it involves Sweden!

Here are Tommy's two performances. In the first, he's a young, lightweight pop singer. In the second, you can hear the powerhouse voice he developed. He originated the role of the Russian in Benny and Bjorn's musical Chess, and he is considered to own the song Anthem.

In 1968, when the announcer didn't even know how to pronounce his name. (The hard /k/ sound doesn't get used despite the spelling, so his name is more like "shuer-BERR." I can't type the umlaut over the o.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6mqREyrL2c


Here is the 1988 Eurovision performance.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxFkbcFhP50

And here is one of the best performances of "Anthem." He has performed it for 25 years, in English (he played the role in London) and Swedish. Here he is at the British Olivier Awards. Music by Bjorn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson, lyrics by Tim Rice.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xnpfwTkfV0


Just because I have the chance to share the song with a new set of people here on GS!
 

dorispulaski

Wicked Yankee Girl
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Country
United-States
The only reason I know anything about this competition is that ice dancers sometimes use Eurovision songs. Last year the Turkish senior team, Agafanova & Ucar, used Ryback's Fairy Tale from the contest in their SD- and got gigged for it not being a polka.
 
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GF2445

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 7, 2012
The only reason I know anything about this competition is that ice dancers sometimes use Eurovision songs. Last year the Turkish senior team, Agafanova & Ucar, used Ruben' s Fairy Tale from the contest in their SD- and got gigged for it not being a polka.

I remember Alexander Ryback's fairytale. It literally dominated the competition that year. It was super cheesy and lame but it had a winning formula. It won the competition by 100 points that year, which is monstrous.

I personally koved that Agafonova and Ucar used that song- it was very well received at Europeans that year but it did get the ding at worlds.

Also, if it interests you, watching the votes for each country is like seeing block judging played out!
 

dorispulaski

Wicked Yankee Girl
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Country
United-States
Yes, the bloc judging would interest me very much ;)

Btw Auto correct turns Ryback to Ruben. :bang:
 

GF2445

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 7, 2012
2014 Eurovision Entries

Here are the entries this year for the 59th Eurovision Song Contest in Copenhagen, Denmark. I must say that this year there are alot of stand outs, some with political and social messages and ALOT of....interesting entries...(that's the best way to put it!) but what are you're thoughts? Which songs did you like or not like?

Semi-Final 1
16 Nations Competing but only 10 tickets available to the Final.

1. Sweden- Sanna Nielsen singing "Undo"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdXXnX5BvGY
2. Albania- Hersi Matmuja singing "One Night's Anger"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4ABpIspdic
3. Iceland- Pollaponk singing "No Prejudice"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwfGKEIn5xw
4. Russia Federation- The Tolmachevy Sisters singing "Shine"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60QdH...ature=youtu.be
5. Latvia- Aazemnieki singing "Cake to Bake"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xd-BiXPNy9g
6. Azerbaijan- Dilara Kazimova singing "Start A Fire"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipQswujA5gw
7. Armenia- Aram Mp3 singing "Not Alone"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ChkJpnOgIwQ
8. Estonia- Tanja singing "Amazing"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2awftMhLqD8
9. Belgium- Axel Hirsoux singing "Mother"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APWpOkRQoiY
10. Hungary- Andras Kallay-Saunders singing "Running"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzfRDZmuFUI
11. Moldova- Cristina Scarlat singing "Wild Soul"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRpZzgsGuXM
12. Montenegro- Sergej Cetkovic singing "Moj svijet" (My World- Montenegrin)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xym7CQFFTOU
13. San Marino- Valentina Monetta singing "Maybe"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vt_3yms1PcM
14. Portugal- Suzy singing "Quero ser tua" (I want to be yours- Portuguese)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcTiPW-X8q4
15. Ukraine- Maria Yaremchuk singing "Tick-Tock"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdAf2EjhRiE
16. The Netherlands- The Common Linnets singing "Calm After the Storm"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkrF8uC92O4



Semi-Final 2
15 Nations Competing but only 10 tickets available to the Final.

1. Norway- Carl Espen singing "Silent Storm"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LBOjxBty8U
2. Israel- Mei Finegold singing "Same Heart"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_uB4JMw4ctc
3. Georgia- The Shin & Mariko singing "Three Minutes to Earth"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9ixkdkbieU
4. Austria- Conchita Wurst singing "Rise Like a Pheonix"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ToqNa0rqUtY
5. Lithuania- Vilija Mataciunaite singing "Attention"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWi0zF6bFto
6. Poland- Donatan & Cleo singing "My Slowianie (Slavic Girls)" (We Slavs [Slavic Girls]- Polish/English)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzDMSNygAf4
7. Malta- Firelight singing "Coming Home"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qxi5C-lGX2Y
8. Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia- Tijana Dapcevic singing "To the Sky"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ak73KTgy9nE
9. Finland- Softengine singing "Something Better"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5c1P0jY4kVE
10. Ireland- Can-Linn feat. Kasey Smith singing "Heartbeat"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zc14AzCXUgQ
11. Romania- Paula Seling & Ovi singing "Miracle"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYfyMkwTLPg
12. Slovenia- Tinkara Kovac singing "Spet/Round and Round" (Again/Round and Round- Slovene/English)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVAnopmdJT4
13. Belarus- TEO singing "Cheesecake"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Qe7YmYgowM
14. Greece- Freaky Fortune feat. Riskykidd singing "Rise Up"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8QIbL9i2MU
15. Switzerland- Sebalter singing "Hunter of Stars"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjWG0oNpWog

Automatically Qualified to Finals
Host Nation + "The Big Five"

Host Nation
1. Denmark- Basim singing "Cliche Love Song"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fn8DzOcpQas

Big Five
1. France- Twin Twin singing "Moustache"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWJFfnHNOWI
2. Germany- Elaiza singing "Is It Right"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KcbctglZ_io
3. Italy- Emma Marrone singing "La mia citta" (My City- Italian)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Si9K0ChHzDI
4. Spain- Ruth Lorenzo singing "Singing in the Rain"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9R96ZoWJBU
5. United Kingdom- Molly singing "Children of the Universe"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFqYbibLh8k

 

ManyCairns

Medalist
Joined
Mar 12, 2007
Country
United-States
I only know Eurovision song contest as the vehicle that gave the world Riverdance -- the Interval Act performance when Ireland hosted the contest in 1994.

Love, love, love me some Chess. Saw it in the West End in 1988 but had already had a cassette tape of the soundtrack for a few years prior to that, and knew it by heart. The Broadway version was a real hack job but did add one nice song to the book.
 
Joined
Aug 16, 2009
I only know Eurovision song contest as the vehicle that gave the world Riverdance -- the Interval Act performance when Ireland hosted the contest in 1994.

Love, love, love me some Chess. Saw it in the West End in 1988 but had already had a cassette tape of the soundtrack for a few years prior to that, and knew it by heart. The Broadway version was a real hack job but did add one nice song to the book.

Ooh, forgot about Riverdance.

The American version of Chess had the lovely voice of Judy Kuhn, I believe (I had the cast recording). Was "Someone Else's Childhood" the new song? I loved it, and I loved her rendition of it. I'm so glad the original English language version, the one from London, had Tommy Korberg as the Russian. I finally located the CDs (expensive!) and listen to it periodically. What a powerhouse singer he is, even now, and at that time he was in his prime.
 

LRK

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 13, 2012
Thankyou :). I'll put it on the big list. Which countries are you liking this year?

I haven't been paying attention, I'm afraid. Sweden has like fifty-eleven different qualifying competitions to determine their entry, and I've never been that interested in the first place, so I think the overexposure has rather killed what interest I used to have. I mean that I barely notice when the Swedish phase is over and when things are getting "serious". Sometimes I do watch the "big" competition, though, if I happen on it, and I'm in the mood. :) Years ago I used to watch more regularly, but then, we only had two channels then - and only one qualifying Swedish competition - which made things more interesting. (Years ago = the '80s. :) )

I actually rather liked the Russian entry. The funny thing is that it was your thread in combination with Plushy's tweet that made me listen to it. I'd seen the tweet first, but wasn't interested - and then I saw your thread, and thought, oh, yeah, wasn't that what he tweeted about?? And then I listened to it.

Thanks to your thread, I'm starting to feel a bit curious about the other entries as well. Which do you recommend I start with? The ones that you like and the ones that are... well... out there. There are always those, aren't there? And then one has the mediocrities - the songs that aren't so much terrible, as that they don't have much "personality" at all. They sound as if they aren't "proper" songs at all - and no one would listen to them, if they weren't Eurovision entries.
 

LRK

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 13, 2012
Doris, you made me curious, so I listened to it. I agree - I didn't care for it either. It's not that I hated it... it's just that it didn't hang together for me at all. It felt like a... how shall I put it?... patchwork?
 

GF2445

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 7, 2012
There are alot of strong entries this year.
One of the thing s that end up in the youtube comments about these songs is whether this song is 'suitable' for the song contest or if its too musch of a high or low standard for this competition.

Nowadays, dance music with electronically produced sound is most popular but there has also been a small yet growing trend to return to more acoustic sounds- country, folk influences, incorperating unique instruments etc. or just a proper band setting. There is also an increasing trend to have songs in English as they tend to do better.

This year, i have enjoyed entries from Malta, Finland, Armenia, Greece, UK, Ireland, Hungary, Switzerland, Sweden, Norway and The Netherlands.
 

LRK

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 13, 2012
Yes, I can imagine that many would use English, and that it would do better, as more people woule understand it. There was a period - I forget when that changed? - when you weren't actually allowed to use any language other than your own. (Some countries have more than one official language, of course, so they could choose amongst those.)

Thanks, I'll check out the ones you've named!
 
Joined
Aug 16, 2009
Yes, I can imagine that many would use English, and that it would do better, as more people woule understand it. There was a period - I forget when that changed? - when you weren't actually allowed to use any language other than your own. (Some countries have more than one official language, of course, so they could choose amongst those.)

Thanks, I'll check out the ones you've named!

In that vein, I remember that about ten years ago there was a "World Idol" competition, with national idols from several different countries as competitors. It was fascinating to hear the diverse talent from all over, but even more interesting was the fact that with one exception, everyone sang in English. The one exception was the Lebanese contestant, who sang in Arabic. The winner, Kurt Nilsen of I think Norway, was spectacular, and I think everyone voted for him. What a great, warm voice. I hope he's still having a successful career, because he was a real pleasure to listen to.
 
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